The Field Museum is free to Illinois residents (with proof of residency) February 1-28th. For a full list of  Free Admission Days, visit the Field Museum's website. 

The Shedd Aquarium is free to Illinois residents every weekday in February. For a full list of free days, visit the Shedd Aquarium's website.

The Adler Planetarium offers free general admission to Illinois residents on February 5-7, 12-14, 18-21, 26-28, visit the Adler's website.

The Museum of Science and Industry is free for Illinois residents on February 4-7, 11-14, 19-21, 25-28; visit MSI's website.

Just in from the Shedd Aquarium . . .

A summer opportunity for middle schoolers: Registration is now live!

Are your middle schoolers ready to explore the great outdoors? Then it's time to join us for Shedd's Summer Road Trip, a week of excitement and exploration. We’ll use the aquarium as our home base as we set out on a new adventure every day. 

At each destination, outdoor activities and environmental investigations will open your child's mind and spark compassion, curiosity and conservation for the aquatic animal world. The week will end with an overnight stay at the aquarium!

Program dates
June 24-29
August 5-10

Click here for complete details and registration.

Registration is now open

From The Center for Gifted:

STEM with STEAM!
Join us in Lincolnshire for exciting,
hands-on challenges in science, technology,
engineering, mathematics, and art.
(Click here to enroll now.)

This Saturday, January 26
Kindergarten-8^th grades • 2:00-4:30 • Tuition: $45
Daniel Wright Junior High School, 1370 Riverwoods Road

Polymers, Potions, and
Bubbling Lava Lamps
(Kdg-4^th grades)
Create slime and other slippery
substances, cause your own weird and
varied chemical reactions, and concoct
creative scientific solutions.

Luminescence,
Combustion and
Chemical Reactions
(5^th-8^th grades)
Explore the properties and
experience the chemical reactions
and physical changes you can produce
in exciting hands-on and demonstration
experiments (but don’t blow up the lab!)

Saturday, March 16
Kindergarten-8^th grades • 2:00-4:30 • Tuition: $45
Daniel Wright Junior High School, 1370 Riverwoods Road

Exploring Physics
(Kdg-3^rd grades)
What roles do gravity, balance, and
 energy play in everday life? Some answers
may surprise you! Experiment, investigate, and
explore hands-on as you move from station to station,
each featuring a different, intriguing hands-on lab.

Testing the
Limits of Physics
(4^th-8^th grades)
Investigate phenomena that
venture beyond so-called physical
limits. Create contraptions that utilize
principles of power, force, and energy.

To enroll, click here or go to our website. Tuition is due in full
at time of application; a $2 processing fee also is applied per student.
Tuition is fully refunded for withdrawals requested before the program
begins. Teacher recommendations are not required for our one-day programs.

We hope to see you this Saturday and/or in March. Invite a friend or two!

 Enrollment for our summer 2019 programs, serving students who will
be entering preschool-12^th grades in the fall, also is open, with locations in
Buffalo Grove, Cary, Glenview, Lincolnshire, and more. Click here to see oursummer schedule, or visit our website for individual flyers and more details. (A 10% discount on summer tuition is now running through February 28;enter code EARLY10 on bottom of "cart" page of online application.)

The Center for Gifted and Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity*
1926 Waukegan Road, Suite 2, Glenview, IL  60025 • 847-901-0173
info@centerforgifted.org • www.centerforgifted.or
*A Northern Illinois University partner
Joan Franklin Smutny, Director • Maria
Freeman, Michael Gorelick, and Jennifer Rinne,
Associate Directors • Vickie Kiamco, Program Coordinator

Fermilab Science Adventures— February – May 2019

The Spring 2019 Science Adventures class list, registration instructions and a downloadable registration form are available on the Fermilab website.http://ed.fnal.gov/sciadv

A sneak peak of classes; go online to see all Science Adventures. 

February 9, 2019 – Design and Create: Be an Engineer, grades 5–7

February 16, 2019 – Nanotech Investigations, grades 4–6 

February 23, 2019 – Snow Crystals, grades K–5 – New Instructor

March 2, 2019 – Hands-on Engineering, grades 2–4

March 9, 2019 – Hands-on Engineering, grades 2–4

March 16, 2019 – Chemistry at Your Fingertips, grades K–2

March 23, 2019 – Kid Inventors, grades 4–6

April 6, 2019 – Problem Solving through Coding, grades 6–8 – NEW

April 6, 2019 – Brilliant Butterflies, grades K–2

April 13, 2019 – Science in Star Wars, grades 2–4 

April 27, 2019 – Billions of Bugs, grades 2–4 – NEW

May 18, 2019 – Fireflies, Sea Monsters and Glow Sticks, grades 3–5

May 11, 2019 – Wild and Wonderful Weather, grades 3–5

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival was founded in 2014 to establish Chicago as a prominent center for the art of puppetry. This biennial Festival presents the highest quality local, national, and international puppet shows in venues across the city. Invited artists lead workshops, public presentations and talks as an integral part of the Festival offerings. Additionally, the Festival hosts the Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium devoted to the advancement of scholarship and research in the field of puppetry.

The Festival includes numerous family friendly performances at several locations in the city. See the complete list of family friendly performances here.

Applications for Science Minors Open Now

The youth development program at the Museum of Science and Industry invites teens to learn about science, gain public speaking skills and conduct experiments with Museum guests while fulfilling service learning hours.

Science Minors attend 10 weeks of science education and training, then volunteer to conduct interactive science experiments for Museum guests. Students must be ages 14 to 18 to participate. There is no charge for this program. We offer three sessions during the school year: fall, winter and spring. Each 10-week session meets on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Learn More

Following major renovations, the entire first floor of the Sulzer Regional Library (4455 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago) is now dedicated to children's services. They have three play spaces for babies-toddlers, toddlers-young children, and older kids. They offer programs for ages 0-5 every day at 10am.

Here are a few upcoming programs:

Chess Club (Grades 3+ / Ages 8+)

4-5 pm, 2nd & 4th Thursdays of the month: Dec. 13 & 27, Jan. 10 & 24, & Feb. 14, 4-5 pm

Our chess expert is ready to teach you the basics or help you improve your game. No registration required.

Chicago Student Invention Convention (Grades 4-7 / Ages 9-13)

4-5 pm, Jan. 2, 16 & 30, Feb. 6 & 20

This program takes students through the invention process from brainstorming to presenting a prototype, emphasizing skills such as creative problem-solving, resilience, and communication. Students are encouraged to attend all five sessions if possible and may be invited to attend the city-wide Invention Convention in April.

Tween Book Club (Grades 4-7 / Ages 9-13)

4-5 pm, Dec. 26 & Jan. 23

Please join our popular middle grade book club as we read and discuss a book selected by the group. Stop by the Children's Reference Desk or check the book club shelves by the elevator for the latest title. Please register online at ChiPubLib.org.

Tween Service Learning Club (Grades 5-8 / Ages 10-14)

3-4 pm, Dec. 27 & Jan. 24

Service Learning Club participants complete volunteer hours by working on prepared tasks and projects that will vary month to month. If interested in more hours, you can develop a project with a staff member during this time. No registration required.

Tween Writing Club (Grades 4-7 / Ages 9-13)

4-5 pm, Dec. 12, Jan. 9, & Feb. 13

Meet other young writers and hone your skills. No registration required, but space is limited to 10 participants.

Check our their web site for a complete listing of programs for all ages.

Davidson Fellows Scholarship – www.DavidsonGifted.org/Fellows

2019 Davidson Fellows $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 Scholarships

The Davidson Institute for Talent Development offers high-achieving young people across the country the opportunity to be named a 2019 Davidson Fellow, an honor accompanied by a $50,000, $25,000 or $10,000 scholarship in recognition of a significant piece of work in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Music, Literature, Philosophy or Outside the Box. Applicants must submit an original piece of work that is recognized as significant by experts in the field and that has the potential to make a positive contribution to society. The scholarship may be used at any accredited college or university. The deadline to apply is Feb. 13, 2019. 

The Students Involved with Technology Conference is an annual conference for 3rd through 12th grade students, occurring at several sites throughout Illinois. It originated in Bloomington-Normal and has since expanded. So what makes the SIT Conference stand out? It is also completely presented by 3rd-12th grade students. While adult volunteers from local schools and the community help the day run smoothly, all presentations are prepared and presented by the students!

The 2019 Students Involved with Technology Conference will be February 9, 2019 from  8:30-2:00.

Please note:

• Persons NOT registered for the conference will NOT be allowed to enter a conference site. 
• A $15 processing fee will be charged for registration cancelled prior to January 16, 2019. No refunds will be issued after deadline. There are NO on-site registrations or attendee substitutions.
  

Registration:

Participant, Presenter & Sponsor Registration

• Bensenville | Register online or use mail-in registration 
• Berwyn | Register online or use mail-in registration 
• DeKalb | Register online or use mail-in registration 
• Lake Forest | Register online or use mail-in registration 
• Normal | Register online or use mail-in registration 

Volunteer Registration

• Bensenville | https://goo.gl/forms/2JIT6itWrqICkymh1
• Berwyn | https://goo.gl/forms/xPeMjtpsAxA9S14T2
• DeKalb | https://goo.gl/forms/VqNSnjr1KqrpDDc92
• Lake Forest | https://goo.gl/forms/zhxQCKAUzldYmJQH3
• Normal | coming soon

Amazon has a program whereby not for profits can receive money when people shop, called Amazon Smile.  This week (through November 2nd) Amazon has increased the percentage they give from 0.5% to 5%! Won't you consider designating CGCC as your Amazon Smile recipient?